Kansas paper victim of hoax

When the newspaper in a college town reports that the football coach who just led the local university to its best season in years is about to bolt to another school, it had better have all its ducks in a row before it goes with the story.

The Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World & News apparently thought it had a scoop when it reported Wednesday on its Web site that University of Kansas head football coach Mark Mangino was in touch with the University of West Virginia about its coaching vacancy.

The Journal-World had been talking with a man claiming to be Neil Cornrich, Mangino's agent, who issued a statement to the paper saying Mangino — who this week was selected as the Associated Press coach of the year — was "in contract negotiations" with West Virginia.

It turns out the guy the Journal-World was in contact with wasn't Cornrich but an impostor. The newspaper now says it was victim of a "hoax."

Read the paper's retraction and comments from some of its unhappy readers.

Update: The calls to the paper were traced back to a cell phone in Chicago. An employee from an executive search firm is the registered owner of the phone and she said she had no idea how a number associated with her name could have been used in those calls.

Comments

[Kansas]

Sounds to me like the paper made a mistake and are trying to Cover their rear end.

Just my opinion